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MINISTER FOR HEALTH Simon Harris plans to bring a request to Cabinet on Tuesday to begin the drafting of the legislation for termination of pregnancy in Ireland.
There have been calls for the legislation to be enacted without delay following the landslide victory for the Yes side in the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment.
The country voted by 66.4% to 33.6% to remove the amendment from the Constitution, paving the way for the legalisation of abortion in some circumstances.
Once Harris gets the green light from Cabinet, the legislation is expected to be drafted in the coming months and tabled in the Dáil after the summer recess.
The expected legislation would allow abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and in very limited circumstance thereafter, such as when the mother’s life is at risk, as outlined here.
Members of the Fine Gael-led government and the opposition have called for the legislation to be enacted as quickly as possible, with it ideally being in place by the end of the year.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the result of Friday’s referendum as “the culmination of a quiet revolution that has taken place in Ireland over the past 10-20 years”.
“We trust women, and we respect them to make the right decisions for their healthcare … this gives the government the mandate.”
Speaking yesterday, prominent No campaigner and independent TD Mattie McGrath said: “The people have spoken and I accept the will of the people.”
‘Open eyes’
Dr Peter Boylan, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the former master of Holles Street, yesterday told reporters at the RDS count centre in Dublin that everyone went into the referendum with “open eyes“.
“They know what the legislation proposed is so I think politicians from all parties can take it that the legislation outlined by government is what the will of the people is.
“My experience over the years in talking to women, particularly older women, was that they were ready for this change and it wasn’t just the issue of abortion, it was the way women had been treated by this State over the years.
“We all know the litany of abuse that women and children have suffered so I think it was part of the sequence of redress for all of the wrongs over the years,” Boylan said.
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The general of the presidential guard was going to lose his job and was not happy about it. Calling this high treason is ironic when he is the one who did a coup against a democratically elected president and government. The coup is high treason.
@ForrestG45: Yes, it is, in this case, and in every other case. But at some point (I’m not talking about this one), if someone is committing treason or doing something so bad, like declaring war when the people don’t want it, or malnutrition its people, kind of like Kim Jong Un, then only by committing treason you can depose a tyrant. The people in power write the laws and defines treason.
This should be done here with the current cabinet.
Am sure some democracy bombs will sort them out. Just like Libya.
Under the Bazoum ‘democracy’ the natural resources were taken by France under the guns of the French and US military. Bazoum was handsomely rewarded for this treachory while the people of (name of country censored) go hungry. This coup was carried out without a single death because it had he support of the people of (name of country censored).
@Fearg: (name of country censored)? NIGER is the name of the country it’s clearly not sensored so why claim it is?.
@Fearg: I think you will find that resources were bought with hard currency rather that ‘taken’ (stolen) as you suggest
@donal O’brien: They were not bought they were taken. French companies own the mines. Niger only gets 14% of the value of what France takes. 1 in every 3 houses in France is powered by uranium from Niger while 90% of Niger’s population don’t even have electricity.
The people of Niger are 100% correct to take back the resources from any western nation that claims them and charge a fair price for them. Will the military junta do that remains to be seen but that’s nothing to do with us
@Roy Dowling: incorrect. Less than 10% of Niger’s uranium is used in French nuclear plants. France and the EU have diversified their supply in the last while to counter such risks, with the likes of Kazakhstan, Canada and soon Uzbekistan.
@ForrestG45: sorry meant less than 10% of uranium used in French nuclear plants is coming from Niger.
Any chance of a report on the voter fraud operation in Michigan that was operating during the 2020 election? A paid election worker has been indicted after she registered approx 10,000 dubious voters. That was in one Michigan county. She was also operating in several other Michigan counties.
Plus she was part of a larger team of paid election operatives.
@Monetpenny: She was operating in several different counties at once? Right. Is she there with you now?
@F Fitzgerald. Yes she was. She didn’t perform the miracle of bi-location but you do understand people can operate on different counties at the same time? I have a friend who is a business rep for Kerry, Limerick & Clare. That is possible. It doesn’t mean he is in the same county at the same time nor does his employer expect him to be in the three counties at the same time.
Perhaps if the Journal did a report on it you might understsnd.
have your say